Reading behaviors of deaf young adults: A study of the use of sign language and the resolution of reference in connected discourse

"Reading requires the interaction of multiple factors. Among these are the reader's ability to make connections between his or her oral language and the written text. Recent research suggests that there is an important relationship between a reader's oral language competence and successfully deriving a coherent message from text. The purpose of this research was to understand the ways in which persons who are deaf construct meaning from written text given that their ""oral"" language is primarily sign language. The influence of American Sign Language (ASL) upon reading was explored by watching deaf young adults use sign language as they read connected discourse. Of particular interest were those places in the text where there occurred language structures that had distinct representations in English and in ASL. In this study the structures included personal pronouns and ellipsis. The influence to reading comprehension of knowing and using two different languages was assessed by accounting for those places in the text where the readers were seen using ASL when they were asked to sign merely in straight English word order and those places where the readers used straight English when asked to translate into ASL as they read."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Chrosniak, Patricia Natalie

Contributors dc:contributor

• McConkie, George W.

• Language, Linguistics
• Education, Special
• Education, Reading

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1991 Chrosniak, Patricia Natalie

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

AAI9136570
(UMI)AAI9136570

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21635